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ARTIST STATEMENT

 

As a Black, queer, woman, my work centers the power of storytelling and nuanced forms of representation. I dance between the literary and visual worlds of artistic production thereby constructing the architecture of multifaceted narratives. As a writer and interdisciplinary artist, I draw from various art-making practices such as dramaturgy, performance art, sonics, collage, letterpress printing, textiles, sculpture, metalwork, mask-making, and digital art. I often center the process of historical reference and the practice of ethical resuscitation of the archive. Much of my work celebrates the Black American experience and the ways in which cataloging, technology, information, and identities are inextricably entangled. I am fascinated by the ways we use technology to generate, circulate, organize, and obscure knowledge. I am interested in how and why some art and artists become labeled as "difficult," "experimental," and "avant-garde." My work explores the fragile line between "human" and "nonhuman" beings, encouraging a social justice focused art practice that seeks to collaborate with plants, animals, and robots in this galaxy and beyond.

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Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship (2023-2024)

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Brown Arts Institute David Dornstein '85 Artist Grant (2023)

 

Effective Performance Certificate Recipient (2022)

Awarded by the Graduate School of Brown University and Trinity Repertory Company

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Brown Arts Institute Research Fellow (2022)

Supported the work of Theaster Gates' Black Chapel exhibition at London's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (10 Jun-16 Oct 2022)

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Almost Now, Just Then... (2017) projects + gallery

Featured Essay in Exhibition Catalogue 

Group exhibition featuring work by artists Lyndon Barrois Jr., Addoley Dzegede, Jen Everett, Kahlil Robert Irving, Katherine Simóne Reynolds and WORK/PLAY (Kevin and Danielle McCoy)

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Alison C. Rollins at The Steel Yard's Welding Workshop  Providence, RI (2022)
 
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Steal Away (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Performance of "Steal Away" poem series
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater
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Illustration of "A woman with iron horns and bells on, to keep her from running away" from the Slavery Photograph Collection
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Photographs and Prints Division
A Bell Is a Messenger of Time (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Performance of poem with antique brass bells and body armor
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater
A Bell Is a Messenger of Time (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Performance of poem with antique brass bells and body armor
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater
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Belle Body Armor (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Belle Body Armor (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Steel body armor replica of a 19th century instrument to keep an enslaved woman from running away
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Belle Body Armor in production at The Steel Yard (Providence, RI) Welding Workshop
Blacksmith Workshop at
The Steel Yard (Providence, RI)

 
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Linebreak & Enjambment (2022) Alison C. Rollins
 
Welding Workshop at
The Steel Yard (Providence, RI)

 
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Mirror of Freedom: For Henry "Box" Brown, From Alison "Inbox" @ Brown (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater

 
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box performance 5.HEIC
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Mirror of Freedom: For Henry "Box" Brown, From Alison "Inbox" @ Brown (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater

 
Home On the Range (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater

 
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Home On the Range (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater

 
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Home Out of Range (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Re-Examining Conservation: An Animal Studies Arts and Practice Symposium 
Brown Arts Institute, Martinos Auditorium, Granoff Center

 
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Blue Spells: Women Weaving Water (2022) Alison C. Rollins & Lucia Retta
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater

 
Home performance BAI.JPG
Home Out of Range (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Re-Examining Conservation: An Animal Studies Arts and Practice Symposium 
Brown Arts Institute, Martinos Auditorium, Granoff Center

 
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Home Out of Range (2022) Alison C. Rollins
Re-Examining Conservation: An Animal Studies Arts and Practice Symposium 
Brown Arts Institute, Martinos Auditorium, Granoff Center

 
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Horse 3.JPG
Home Performance BAI 5.JPG
Blue Spells: Women Weaving Water (2022) Alison C. Rollins & Lucia Retta
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater

 
HORSE 6.HEIC
Blue Spells: Women Weaving Water (2022) Alison C. Rollins & Lucia Retta
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater

 
Horse 7.HEIC
Blue Spells: Women Weaving Water (2022) Alison C. Rollins & Lucia Retta
Brown University, McCormack Family Theater

 
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Portraits of the Artist with Maternal Grandmother as Hawk 
Alison C. Rollins 
The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO

 
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